


pretending he's beside me

by madeon



Category: One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Infidelity, M/M, i'm so very new here please be nice, if that bothers you just know it's there, there's a bit of swearing idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 08:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/684846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madeon/pseuds/madeon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>harry was at a party in leeds tonight and grimmy was in london.</p>
            </blockquote>





	pretending he's beside me

nick promises they can do valentine’s day together (“just like last year, popstar, we’ll go out to groucho and have our own party”) and harry’s been looking forward to it for months and then nick texts him. _something came up tonight’s off, sorry love xx_ and well. that hurts.

so harry texts niall who’s a bit confused (“weren’t you going out with grimmy tonight, mate?”) and harry doesn’t want to talk about it, he just wants to get drunk, so they climb into niall’s new range rover (it has that new car smell that harry hates and nick always makes fun of him for refusing to ride in cars with that smell and nope he’s not thinking about nick right now) and they drive to leeds because niall’s got friends in uni who told him about a party and.

there’s girls and vodka and harry pretends he’s okay and smiles for all the pictures and he’s doing well, he is, until a boy he’s been drinking with all night mentions quietly that he’s “you know, not really into girls” and harry thinks _oh_ and then harry doesn’t really think at all for the rest of the night.

(and when he does let himself think it’s not about nick)

\----------

he wakes up the next morning and panics because the sun was up and he was supposed to be on the breakfast show and shit he’s so late nick is going to kill him and then niall walks in, laughing on the phone (harry’s phone, he can tell from the case) saying “yeah, yeah, you know you’re the only one for me, finchy” and why is niall on the show instead? but he sits up and sips at the bottle of water niall’s passed to him and waits for him to hang up and then niall turns to him. “so.”

pictures leaked. pictures of harry with the boy from last night ( _james_ , he thinks, _james who wasn’t really into girls_ ) and they’re all over twitter and while they aren’t kissing in any of them because even drunk harry knows better than to do that in public they’re. they’re pretty close. and nick knows better than anyone what harry looks like when he’s flirting, not just the careful one-liners he uses on interviewers and fans to make them blush and giggle, and there’s no way nick could’ve missed what was happening there.

harry stares at his phone while niall tries to talk to him (“it’ll be ok, harry, i’m sure he’ll forgive you, it was the vodka”) and when it buzzes he nearly drops it in his rush to unlock the screen.

 _one new text from <3nick<3_ (god those stupid hearts he keeps forgetting to change them from when aimee fucked around with his phone)

_it’s alright, harry. we wouldn’t have lasted through your next tour anyway._

and then harry really does drop his phone and niall’s grabbing his shoulder and shaking him and harry can see his mouth moving but doesn’t hear the words and just.

okay.

\----------

when they get back from tour it’s months later and harry is tired. he’s tired from being on the road for what feels like forever and he’s tired of performing the same set every night and he’s tired of reaching for his phone to text nick about something stupid and remembering that he fucked up.

and when he gets to his house he’s tired and lonely, because it’s too big for one person and he’s not used to sleeping alone and that first night is the worst night he’s had in a long time, because his bed is too cold and his house is too big and his heart is too empty.

but eventually he falls asleep and when he wakes up it’s dark and his phone is flashing.

 _one new text from <3nick<3_ (he still couldn’t make himself change the name)

_heard you’re back. finchy wants you on the show soon but i figured we should probably talk first. coffee?_

and it’s already far past dinnertime but harry knows their favorite coffeeshop is open all night so he texts nick back _of course_ and when he gets a simple _:)_ back he starts to let himself hope.

and they get coffee and they talk and harry’s never thought of nick as being old, even after all the jokes about nick being his father, but he’s got more lines than harry remembers him having. he looks tired, and harry catches himself wondering if he looks the same way.

they talk and talk and their coffee gets cold but harry thinks he can feel his heart start to warm up a little bit and they leave for separate houses at the end of the night but nick smiles and harry lets himself think hey maybe this will be alright.

and when they get coffee the next day nick looks down at his hands and glances up and looks away again and harry waits patiently because he doesn’t want to fuck this up again but he can only wait so long. and he’s about to tell nick to _hurry up, get it out already_ when nick asks quietly “can i come back to yours tonight? my bed is too big without you in it.” 

and harry feels himself smiling and he didn’t know his mouth could go that wide and nick is blushing (harry can see his freckles) and mumbling about how he “obviously meant your popstar ego, harold, need a bed the size of the planet to fit that in there” but they’re both smiling and when they leave the cafe that night harry slips his hand into nick’s and grins into the flashing cameras.

**Author's Note:**

> please be nice when i say i'm new i really mean it  
> sorry it's so short it was just a drabble i did for a friend on tumblr and i didn't want to lose it  
> yep


End file.
